Al-Dawwara

Al-Dawwara
Al-Dawwara, 1946
Al-Dawwara
Arabic الدوّارة
Subdistrict Safad
Coordinates 33°10′43″N 35°38′02″E / 33.17861°N 35.63389°E / 33.17861; 35.63389Coordinates: 33°10′43″N 35°38′02″E / 33.17861°N 35.63389°E / 33.17861; 35.63389
Palestine grid 209/287
Population 700[1][2] (1945)
Area 2,753[2] dunams
Date of depopulation May 25, 1948[3]
Cause(s) of depopulation Whispering campaign
Current localities ‘Amir, Sde Nehemia

Al-Dawwara (Arabic: الدوّارة‎) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 25, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 27 km northeast of Safad, bordering three rivers that flowed into lake al-Hula: the al-Hasbani, Banyas, and Dan rivers.

In 1945 the village had a population of 1,100 (this figure included 400 Jewish residents of the Kibbutzim ‘Amir and Sde Nehemia).

History

Al-Dawwara was located on flat terrain, and faced Mount Herrmon (Jabal al-Shaykh) to the northeast. It was near the confluence of three rivers that flowed into Lake Hula: the al-Hasbani, Banyas, and Dan rivers and a road linked it to a highway that led to Safad.[4]

British Mandate era

According to the 1931 census of Palestine, the entire population was Muslim except for one Christian[5] and the residents were employed mostly in agriculture, growing gram, vegetables, and citrus.[4]

Kibbutz ‘Amir was established in 1939 about 0.5 km west of the village site, and Sde Nechemya in 1940 to the northwest.[4]

In the 1944/45 statistics Dawwara had population of 700 Muslims,[1] where Arabs owned 2,753 dunams of land.[2] Of this, they used 68 dunums to the growing of citrus fruits and bananas, 281 for cereals, 2,135 dunums for plantations and irrigable land,[6] while 52 dunams was built-up (urban) area.[7]

The older houses in the village was separated by narrow alleys and mostly made of adobe and some with basalt stones.[4]

1948, aftermath

On receiving news of an imminent attack on the village by Operation Yiftach, many villagers fled on May 25, 1948, but some sources have indicated that some military force in practice was used to drive out the Arabs from the village.[4]

In 1992 the village site was described: "There are hardly any traces of the village left, only a few building stones at the edge of a fish pond remain on the site. The entire area has been converted into a fish hatchery."[4]


References

  1. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 9
  2. 1 2 3 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 69.
  3. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #14. Also gives causes of depopulation.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khalidi, 1992, pp. 444-445
  5. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 106
  6. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 118
  7. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 168

Bibliography

  • Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Centre.
  • Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  • Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
  • Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
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